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SERMON 



PREACHED AT THE OPENING 



GENERAL. CONVENTION 



^vottstnnt SS»i0to»al €buttt>> 



PHILADELPHIA, 

September 5, 1838. 



BY THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM MEADE, D. D. 

ASSISTANT BISHOP OF VIRGINIA. 



phila delphia: 
Episcopal Recorder Press 

WILLIAM STAVELY, TRINTER. 



1838. 



SERMON. 



Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask 
for the old paths, where is the good "way, and walk therein, and 

YE SHALL FIND BEST FOR YOUR SOULS. Jd. vi. 16. 

Methinks I hear some one say, could the preacher of this 
day find no other, save this old and hackneyed text, this text 
so often and confidently quoted by the bigot, who sees his own 
church and tenets in almost every line of holy writ and every 
practice of primitive times 1 Could he come before us with 
no other words but these, so for ever in the mouth of the old 
man who loves to upbraid the present generation, and to 
boast of the glory of former days ? 

And because our text may have been often used and 
sometimes abused, is there no virtue left in it ; must it be 
laid aside for ever ? God forbid ! We know that there 
is a spirit of complaining in man which often misapplies 
the text f that the old man fondly referring to the days of 
his youth will sigh for their return as though they were the 
days of Eden's purity and bliss. The preacher has often 
heard such language from the lips of the aged concern- 
ing a period and condition of the church in his native state, 
over whose disgrace it became the pious rather to mourn and 
weep. Often has he been tempted to reply unto such in the 
words of the wise man, " Say not thou what is the cause that 
the former times were better than these, for thou dost not 
inquire wisely concerning this thing." 

Old ways are not necessarily good ways. Many old 
things ought to pass away for ever and be forgotten, or 
only remembered with grief and shame. All other things 
being equal, however, old things should be preferred to 
the new. Although old age standeth not in length of years, 
wisdom being the grey hair to man, and an unspotted life 
old age ; yet when wisdom, an unspotted life and grey hairs 
are found together, how lovely and venerable the sight. 
So with old paths when worn by the footsteps of saints 



and leading to heaven, how holy and blessed are they ! 
How sweet the rest to which they lead ! Such were 
the old paths mentioned in the text, and which cannot be too 
often pointed out to successive generations of travellers to eter- 
nity. Think not then of my text as the oft-used saying of 
some bigot to his sect, or of some querulous old man ; but re- 
member its first words. What are they ? Thus saith the 
Lord. What doth the Lord say ? Stand ye in the ways, 
that is, the many doubtful ways of blind bewildered man, and 
ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and ye shall 
find rest for your souls. It is God, not man, that speaks ; and 
so long as individuals, churches and nations are prone to for- 
sake the paths in which the Lord once led them, so long is 
there use for the teyA. Whenever they do depart from the 
same, wandering into strange paths, it is the duty of God's mi- 
nisters to bid them inquire for the old paths and walk therein ; 
or even when there may be no special cause for rebuke it is 
good to stir up pure minds by way of remembrance of the old 
paths. 

Let us inquire then into the true meaning of our text, for 
we do not wish to make it suit the purposes of a party, or 
bend and accommodate it to some favourite but less important 
and perhaps disputed peculiarities of a church. Perhaps one 
might say, what are these old paths but the statutes and or- 
dinances of the Lord which are on record? What have we 
to do but go to the law and testimony ? " The Bible, the Bible 
alone is the religion of Protestants," and of that must we in- 
quire for the old paths. 

Our text unquestionably pays the first and highest honour 
to that holy volume ; but if I mistake not, it also refers to the 
doctrines and precepts of the same as understood and prac- 
tised by those in whom the Spirit of the Lord was, and whose 
ways are held up to the imitation of successive generations. 
We all know that while the tongue may persuade, it is the 
life which commands ; and therefore God has graciously given 
us bright examples of holiness to illumine and smooth our path 
to heaven. Is there not something most cheering and strength- 
ening to the heart in the thought and assurance, that the wise 
and pious have understood and practised the religion of the 



Bible in the very same way in the best ages and purest states 
of the church of God, so that we have not only the Bible in its 
letter, but the plainest and most practical exhibitions of its 
spirit in the lives of the righteous, that we have some fixed 
standards for our faith, and worship, and conduct. In this 
present age. especially, there is much comfort to the mind of 
the preacher in the thought, that there are some old and sure 
paths towards heaven in which we may walk with certainty, 
and that we have not to strike out into any new, untried, and 
as some think, nearer ones. This is an age of discovery, of 
great enterprise, and of some high improvements. No bounds 
are set to the efforts and expectations of man whose motto is, 
" attempt great things, expect great things." There is some- 
thing in the human mind which still says, " we shall be as 
gods ;" we can and we will scale the heavens ; we can and 
will draw near to the distant planets, by signs at least we may 
hold converse with their inhabitants ; we will think it no rob- 
bery to seize upon some of the attributes of Deity, and by the 
exercise of our sovereign will invest the sleeper with more than 
an archangel's wing and vision ; and what shall be kept from us, 
seeing that we soar already far above proud Babel's highest 
pinnacle. I remember that three years since, at the close of 
our last General Convention, a communication appeared in our 
public papers announcing with all the forms of sincerity and 
truth, that a celebrated astronomer of the old world had by 
means of an instrument of mighty power made a near ap- 
proach to the moon ; that he had clearly seen not merely 
mountains, seas and lakes, but temples and private houses, 
the worshippers and the inhabitants, clearly discerning their 
different pursuits. That such a thing should be written in 
this age of fraud and fiction is not surprising, but that it 
should be received so readily as it was by great numbers was 
indeed to be regretted, and is only to be accounted for by the 
fact that there is a general, and deep, and unwarranted im- 
pression upon many minds of an almost unlimited expansion of 
the powers of man, and advancement in the knowledge of 
things hitherto unknown. That very great improvements and 
discoveries in the arts and sciences have been made, and may 
yet be made, we admit and are pleased to admit. We hear- 



tily rejoice in them as sure proofs of the high susceptibilities 
of our nature, and because they strengthen our faith in those 
wonderful things yet to come in a future state, which eye hath 
not seen, ear hath not heard, and the heart never conceived. 
Even though some of these speculations and anticipations be 
carried to an extravagant height still they are comparatively 
harmless. We may not merely disregard the winds and waves, 
and taking a direct course over the wide Atlantic, by the mighty 
power of steam reach the shores of England in a few short 
days and nights, but we may delight ourselves before-hand in 
the thought (so confidently encouraged by a philosopher of 
the day) that ere long missionaries and bibles in ample abun- 
dance will ascend the regions of air, and on the swift wings 
of the wind, in safe serial arks, sail over Christian lands and 
alight, as so many angels from heaven, amongst the inhabit- 
ants of Thibet and Tartary, China and Hindostan. These, 
and such as these, we can and do read and hear, and smile 
at the same, and wish the prophets, "in their fine frenzy 
rolling," more than the fulfilment of all their serial visions. 
But there is something, Christian brethren, which we cannot 
and will not, because we ought not, thus read and hear, 
smiling at the same. When we read and hear, as sometimes 
we are forced to do, that as in arts and sciences, so also in 
our blessed religion — the whole hope of our immortal souls for 
ever — discoveries are yet to be made, of which the wisest and 
best in the kingdom of God have been utterly ignorant ; that 
the true sense of scripture has been but little elicited; that 
the Bible is comparatively a sealed book, or our eyes yet un- 
opened, I confess my heart sinks within me, and I ask, Is 
this the highway to heaven, once so plain that wayfaring men, 
though fools, need not err therein ? Is this that blessed Gospel 
which was preached to the poor, and concealed, as it were, 
from the wise and prudent, because in the pride of their 
hearts they despised a thing so simple, so suited to babes ? I 
grant that the revelation of Divine truth has been by gradual 
developments in successive dispensations, rising like the sun 
and shining more and more unto the perfect day. But did 
not the darkness pass away and the true light come in him 
who brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel 1 Are 



not Christians the children of the light and the day 1 Where 
is the intimation of some new dispensation of more glorious 
light on this side of heaven ? 

Brethren, this is not a subject for bold or curious specula- 
tion. Let men cultivate the arts and sciences to the utmost — 
let them, if they please, attempt aerial flights — let them make 
all manner of experiments, and imagine all manner of theo- 
ries on every subject under heaven — save one — but when 
they approach that, let them take their shoes from off their 
feet, for the ground is holy. Where God hath spoken let not 
man dream or speculate, but rather humbly hear the plain 
words of heaven, nor imagine that far more is meant than 
has been said. Let not the humble, sincere, and even the in- 
telligent reader of scripture, be now told that he has scarce 
learned any thing as he ought to have learned. Almost 
as well go back some hundred years and give our faith and 
hope into the keeping of a few clerks and priests, and leave 
unread a book which though for thousands of years the ob- 
ject of anxious study, is yet, it seems, unknown — its mere let- 
ter and surface seen by the eye. 

Brethren, my soul rejoices in the thought that it is not thus 
with us, but that when we enter upon a subject so deeply in- 
teresting to man as that of religion, we can look back and see 
the same old paths in which our fathers walked with God and 
found rest for their souls. O ! there is comfort and security 
to the soul in knowing that to us, as to our fathers, is there the 
very same church of the living God — the same old road to 
heaven, though enlarged and beautified and trodden by the 
feet of increasing millions of the saints and pilgrims of the 
Lord. It is a true article of our faith " that the Old Testa- 
ment is not contrary to the New ; for >oth in the Old and New 
Testament, everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, 
who is the only mediator between God and man, being both 
God and man." 

To our text then let us turn, endeavouring to find out and 
apply its true meaning; not seeking by force to adapt it to 
some favourite opinions of our own, or peculiar practices of 
the church of our choice, but to use it as God would have us, 
seeking the mind of the Lord, asking for the old paths in which 



the Lord led his people and in which his people loved to walk 
and he perfect before him. 

And can there be any doubt or difficulty in this ? What 
were these old paths but those in which Adam, ere he fell, 
and righteous Abel, and holy Enoch, and the sons of God with 
faithful Noah, walked, and were perfect in their generations? 
What were they but the same in which Abraham and Isaac 
and Jacob and Joseph continued to walk, while others were 
departing from the Lord and corrupting their way upon 
earth? What were they but those in which Moses, the man 
of God, and Joshua and Samuel and David and the Prophets 
walked, according to the commandments of the Lord ? God 
has never at any time left himself without some faithful wit- 
nesses whom he reserved to illustrate by their holy lives the 
nature of true piety, and to be held up to successive genera- 
tions as examples worthy of imitation. Some precious sea- 
sons of grace, some sweet times of refreshing from the pre- 
sence of the Lord has he always granted to his church, which 
to the true hearted in the midst of their sorrowings have been 
like the green spots to the suffering eye of the traveller on 
the sun-burnt sandy plains of Africa's wide deserts. Such 
were, doubtless, the days of Enoch and the sons of God, when 
they called upon the name of the Lord, before they married 
with the fair but ungodly daughters of men. Such were the 
days of the Patriarchs after the waters of the deluge had pu- 
rified the earth, until in their madness men began again to 
bid defiance unto heaven. Such were the days of Joshua and 
of those who outlived Joshua, who remembered the mighty 
works of the Lord. How good, under the guidance of the 
text, to look back to the faith and patience and zeal of those 
interesting times, and call upon our souls to follow the foot- 
steps of these saints of the Lord. Though the light which 
shone upon their path was dim, yet it was light from heaven — 
the dawn of our own perfect day — faint rays from the same sun 
of righteousness which now pours its bright mid-day beams up- 
on us. By that light they walked uprightly and " obtained a 
good report," doing worthy deeds " by which, though dead, 
they yet speak to us." They lived as " pilgrims and sojourners 
upon earth," going out readily in a spirit of faith at the com- 



9 

mand of God, not knowing whither. One thing was cer- 
tain ; they were always looking for a better — that is, an hea- 
venly country — a city that had foundations, whose maker and 
builder was God ; and God was not ashamed to be called 
their God. One hesitated not to offer up his own, his only 
son, at God's command. Another, not caring to be called the 
son of Pharoalrs daughter, chose rather to suffer affliction 
with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for 
a season; having respect to the recompense of reward, he 
esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the trea- 
sures of Egypt. I mention only these few faithful witnesses 
who walked in the old paths. According to the Apostle, there 
was a great cloud of them; numerous were they as the drops 
of water in a great cloud, and by them did he urge Christians 
to run with patience the race that was set before them. But 
are there no other bright examples of godliness, walking in 
old paths and finding rest in the good way ? Were it sinning 
against the truth of the text and departing from the allowed 
use of scripture to apply the same to men who have lived 
and things done since the days of the prophet Jeremiah ? Did 
not our Lord and the Apostles often use passages of the Old 
Testament by way of illustration in a sense and for a pur- 
pose not originally designed, so that it is not always very easy 
to perceive when they are used in a spirit of accommodation, 
and when as the fulfilment of actual prophecy? May we not, 
therefore, say of some other blessed periods of the church, 
and some other holy ways thereof, " Inquire ye for the old 
paths and find the good way ?" Has no new light been shed 
from heaven since the days of the prophet ; no new witnesses 
to the truth been raised up ; no more glorious things been 
done for the church of God? Speaking of the days of Jesus 
Christ, and comparing them with the dark and terrific ones 
of the former dispensation, the Apostle says, " For ye are not 
come unto the mount which might be touched ; that burned 
with fire ; nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest ; but 
unto Mount Zion ; the heavenly Jerusalem ; to an innumera- 
ble company of angels ; to the general assembly of the church 
of the first-born which are written in heaven ; to Jesus, the 
Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, 
2 



10 

which speaketh better things than that of Abel." Was there, 
indeed, such a time to the church of God, when the Lord visited 
it and did glorious things for it ; when old things passed away 
and all things became new ? Did the children of God walk as the 
children of marvellous light and the sons of a glorious liberty 1 
Was the standard of holiness raised aloft and such things done 
as had never before been seen ? Was the church of God then 
a praise to him upon earth and a pattern to be followed in 
after ages ? Then surely a minister of God, speaking on such 
an occasion as this, might, even from the words of this ancient 
text, say, Inquire ye for the old paths of Christ and his 
Apostles, and the holy fathers, and walk in the same, and ye 
shall find rest. Yea, more ; if at any time the church should 
have lost her first love ; if Satan should have prevailed ; but if 
God should have put the spirit of his Apostles into some va- 
liant reformers who should again revive true piety in the 
church ; neither would we hesitate to say to their successors, if 
declining in zeal, inquire ye for the old paths of those holy 
and valiant spirits who laid down their lives in the defence of 
the faith once delivered to the saints. 

Permit me then, brethren and friends, assembled together 
in General Convention, after these reasons for choosing the 
text, and these explanations of the same, to detain you for a 
short time, while I refer to some of these old paths of the 
church of God. 

In the first place, rejoicing with you whenever by the grace 
of God we have kept to these paths. 

In the second place, exhorting to a return to those from 
which we may have in any measure departed. 

And, in the third place, warning against certain dangers 
and temptations to which we are exposed at this time and 
which might lead us far away from these old paths. 

I. To show that we are not disposed to follow those 
who think that the former days are always, and in all things, 
better than our own, we will delight to trace a very re- 
markable and pleasing resemblance between the church in 
which we minister at this day and the primitive church, in 
some important and interesting particulars which identify 
them together and make us feel that we are a part of that 



11 

church which was built on the foundation of the apostles and 
prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone. It is 
well known to the Christian world that it was the declared 
and most anxious desire and study of the reformers of our 
church and the framers of our liturgy, to select from the 
canons, creeds and liturgies of the primitive church, all those 
things relating to faith, discipline and worship, which were 
most conformable to the word of God. Next to the scriptures 
these, though fallible, were the standards to which they re- 
ferred.* They delighted to retain as much as possible of the 
language, order of service, and forms of the primitive church.f 

* In a work written by Timothy Puller, D. D., on the moderation of the 
Church of England, we have the following confirmation of the above remark. 
" Concerning the testimony of the Fathers, the Church of England hath ob- 
served the same wise moderation in her judgment and use of them also ; no 
where judging of them as unliable to error, according to the arguing of the 21st 
article. Because they are but men, and sometimes have erred in things per- 
taining to God ; neither hath our church any where swallowed their errors, 
through the veneration of their piety and antiquity. Yet, because of their 
proximity to the apostolic times and the just authority in the church, which 
for their learning and piety they have obtained, and all along hath been given 
them, our church in her monuments gives a great deference to their judgment, 
testimony and practice. Thus in the 31st canon it is written, " Forasmuch 
as the ancient fathers of the church, led by the example of the apostles, ap- 
pointed, etc. — we, following their holy and religious example, do constitute 
and decree — and again, canon 32, according to the judgment of the ancient 
fathers and the practice of the primitive church, we do ordain. And again, 
in canon 60 — forasmuch as it hath been a solemn, ancient, and laudable cus- 
tom in the church of God, continued from the apostles times, that, etc. — we 
therefore will and appoint, etc. In king Edward the Sixth's proclamation, be- 
fore the Common Prayer Book, the reason for our forms and rites is justified 
from the practice of the primitive church, and in the preface concerning the 
service of the church. Here you have an order for prayer and reading the 
holy scripture much agreeable to the mind and purpose of the old fathers. 
And in many other places where they are named, and where they are not 
named, the footsteps of their ancient piety have very discernible impressions 
throughout the whole constitution of the church. Wherefore, he says, " Let 
such authority and reverence be continued to the ancient and orthodox fathers, 
as may be subject to the determination, truth and authority of the holy scrip- 
tures. For always the ancient fathers themselves refused any other kind of 
honour or respect, frequently admonishing the reader, that he admits their 
opinions or interpretation but as far as he sees them agree with the holy 
writings." 

■\ Neither is there any impropriety in the language of our worship, only as 
language, which is the clothing of our thoughts, must of course wear old, as 
doth a garment, so, as a garment, some words and phrases of ancient usage 
have been changed into terms suitable to the language of the present time. 
Now this is no proof of impropriety in the sense, which is not itself changed, 
but only clothed anew. However, this alteration hath and must always hap- 
pen even to the word of God, the holy Bible, which, through the variations 
of language is forced, age after age, to get into new translations, as into new 



12 

They wisely judged it to be a safe course to copy from those 
holy, resolute, devoted, heavenly-minded men, who lived 
nearest to the times of our Lord and his Apostles, who labour- 
ed in the same field on which they toiled, carried on the same 
work which they begun, and heard from the lips of the disci- 
ples those things which our Lord spake concerning his king- 
dom, during the last forty days and nights which he spent 
upon earth. No wonder, then, that there should be so remark- 
able a coincidence in many things of worship, doctrine, and 
discipline, and that our church should be endeared to the 
hearts of all who are able to trace the similitude by its nu- 
merous expressions, petitions, forms and usages which have 
come down to us almost unchanged from such high and holy 
antiquity. 

Where shall I begin with my congratulations on this sub- 
ject? Shall I speak of the resemblance in all important points 
between our church polity and that of primitive and apostolic 
times? What need is there, seeing that so many public ser- 
mons make mention of it — that so many tracts and volumes 
trace it out, and that there is but one sentiment among us on 
the subject? Who but reads in scripture and other books, of 
the " divers orders of ministers" in God's ancient church ? 
Who does not meet with the same in the Christian church, 
established by our Lord and the Apostles, transmitted to the 
fathers, and continued in unbroken succession to the present 
day? In this old path our church has always trodden and 
found rest therein. 

Shall I speak of our unity in faith and doctrine with the 
primitive church ? How can we differ, seeing that we use the 
same creeds which formed an important part of their regular 



raiment, to preserve itself from the derision, from the eruel mockings of the 
scorner. For the same reason and by the same steps as the Bible, our liturgy 
hath reformed its language, " for the more perfect rendering (as the church 
alleges) not only such portions of holy scripture as are inserted into it, but 
also such other passages, which, through the decays of time became obsolete, 
or of doubtful signification," and so liable to scorn and misconstruction. Not 
but the old language is well retained at the altar, being venerable for its age, 
as these who wait at it are for their grey hairs : ancient language and ancient 
men, if they offend not through decay, give a reverence and dignity to that 
solemn work. — Bisse's Beauty of Holiness in the Book af Common Prayer, 
p. 16. 



13 

service. How many millions of God's saints have, in the very- 
same words, solemnly uttered their belief in all the great articles 
of the Christian faith from the early ages of the church. What 
a communion must thus be produced in the minds of men on 
these important subjects. In how many other parts of our 
own and the primitive liturgies are the great distinguishing 
doctrines of the Christian faith set forth. Witness that of the 
holy, undivided and glorious Trinity. How carefully has the 
church guarded it, in every age, against the gates of hell. 
Who can tear it from our own or any primitive liturgy with- 
out scattering them all in ten thousand fragments to the 
winds?* In every repetition of the doxology, after psalms, 
hymns and spiritual songs, we renew a declaration of our 
faith in the adorable Trinity, confirming and strengthening 
the same. Who can unite in the Te Deum, the Gloria 
Patri, Gloria in Excelsis, our Liturgy, Communion, and 
other services, without believing in the Three Persons, Father, 
Son, and Spirit? Whence came all the doxologies and ascrip- 
tions of praise and prayers ? Without an exception, from the 
liturgies of ancient times, which copied them, if not always 
in the very words yet in the substance, from the Holy Scrip- 
tures.! When we examine into some of these venerable re- 
lics which have come down to us from ancient times, and 



* Now what is this doxology to the eternal Trinity thus enlarged and per- 
fected, but that of the church in heaven, which worships before the throne, 
crying " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to 
come." And as they above repeat it continually, it can be no blame in us to 
do it frequently. And truly this form of sound and excellent words being so 
often rehearsed in our service, and that alternately by the minister and people, 
and thus mutually exciting and confirming each other's faith, it must be their 
best guard against the attempts of some moderns, whereof one is so wild as to 
revive that very corruption of Arius, saying " Glory be to the Father, by the 
Son, in the Holy Ghost." — Bisse's Beauty of Holiness in the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer. 

■j- The Gloria in Excelsis was also called the Angelical hymn, from begin- 
ning with the words of the song of the angels, " Glory be to God on High." 
This was chiefly used in the communion service. 

The Trisagion, or Cherubical hymn, was originally in these words — " Holy! 
holy ! holy ! Lord God of Hosts ; heaven and earth are full of thy glory ; who 
art blessed for ever. Amen." This was formerly used in the middle of the 
communion service. 

The Hallelujah was generally sung upon Easter-day, and was used by all 
the people. Augustine terms it the Christian's sweet call, whereby they in- 
vited one another to sing praises unto Christ. 



14 

meet with so many well-known and hallowed ejaculations and 
supplications, we almost feel as if we were engaged in our own 
beloved liturgy. 

I would especially notice one thing common to our own and 
the ancient liturgies. Our prayers are many though forming 
one service, being broken into short expressive collects, and 
always conclude with the name of the blessed Saviour. Just 
so was it in the primitive liturgies. One only plea was put 
up, and that plea was mercy through Christ. Through thy 
Christ, for thy Christ's sake, were the last words of every 
prayer, except such as were offered up immediately to the 
Son himself, as in the prayer of St. Chrysostom, the last of our 
service, which was addressed to the Son himself.* This 
is a most blessed feature in our service and was in theirs. It 
was a strict compliance with the Saviour's direction that we 
should ask for every thing in his name.t The church 
seems fearful to utter many words in prayer, to put up more 
than one or two petitions without stopping and mentioning the 
name of God's dear Son, and entreating his intercession. 
What an effectual method of impressing this great doctrine on 
the heart. 

Having said thus much as to our agreement in doctrine and 
the mode of setting it forth, let me briefly allude to a close re- 
semblance even in gestures and forms. Are we sometimes 

* However clearly soever the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ is 
set forth in our articles and homilies, yet is it much more effectually done by in- 
terweaving- of it in all our prayers and offices, making it the Alpha and Omega 
of the Frayer-book as it is of the Bible. Well did Luther call this blessed 
doctrine " Articalus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiae." No church can enjoy the 
blessing of Heaven except this great cardinal truth be clearly, emphatically, 
continually, and most earnestly preached. The Prayer-book does its part, let 
the ministry do theirs. It is said that a certain builder being engaged to con- 
struct a large and splendid temple, resolved to perpetuate his name, not by 
engraving on one of the stones or pillars, but by so arranging all the parts of 
the front thereof, the windows, doors, projections, recesses, etc., that when the 
whole was finished, to the astonishment of all, there was the name of the ar- 
chitect, standing forth in bold relief, and so incorporated with the house that 
both must stand or fall together. So has this great truth been interwoven 
with the liturgy and offices of the church, that to obliterate it, you must de- 
stroy the whole. 

f It is related of the celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson, the giant of English 
literature, that breakfasting on a certain occasion with a friend, and perceiving 
that in saying grace he omitted the name of Christ, he was much affected and 
earnestly remonstrated with him on the subject, begging that he would never 
again be guilty of such an omission. 



15 

called upon to fall low on our knees before the Lord in humble 
supplication, and then to rise up and stand before Him and lift 
up our voices in praise? The primitive church had her days 
and seasons when all must kneel, and those on which it was 
forbidden to kneel, praise being comely on those days, and 
standing the comely posture for praise. Is it now our cus- 
tom, when certain choice portions of the gospel are read, for 
the people to rise up and hear it standing, as if Christ himself 
were speaking. So did the Christians of old stand up and lis- 
ten to the gospel. Do we on our first entrance into the 
church fall on our knees and offer up a short prayer in silence 
before the Lord? Do we in that most impressive service 
which invests the well-proved deacon with higher orders, call 
upon every soul in whom is the spirit of prayer to fall upon 
their knees, and for the space of a few moments engage in si- 
lent entreaty with the Lord, and is this ever so done as to sur- 
prise and overawe the whole assembly, and almost constrain 
the ungodly to pray ? Why do we these things ? Because 
the fathers did the same, only much more frequently in the 
midst of these solemn services ages since. Does the minister 
at this day, when about to break the bread and pour out the 
wine of our Lord's Supper to humble recipients, say to them 
in words commanding and encouraging, " Lift up your hearts,'' 
and the people immediately respond, " We lift them up unto 
the Lord? " These very words were taken warm from the 
lips of God's best ministers and best people in the best days of 
the church. By how many millions of God's ministers and saints 
have these words been uttered each Sabbath throughout alt 
Christendom, from the times of which I speak to the present 
moment ? In dispensing the sacred elements also, does the of- 
ficiating priest or bishop, lifting up the same, utter the well 
known words, "The body or blood of our Lord Jesus Christ 
which w 7 as given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto 
everlasting life." who can number the myriads of voices 
that have uttered and ears that have heard these sweet sounds, 
these blessed benedictions in the use of the sacramental ser- 
vices from the times of the holy fathers to the present day ! 
They were the very same then as now, saving only that 
change which must be in passing from one language to ano- 



16 

ther. And what shall I say of the Lord's prayer so often on 
our lips, so blended with every service of the church, proceed- 
ing first from the lips of Him who alone can teach us how to 
pray ? This was the very beginning of all Christian liturgies. 
On this as a foundation were they built, the superstructures 
rising gradually and variously in the different churches plant- 
ed by the apostles. But the foundation was never forgotten 
or removed. When we use these words in our various ser- 
vices, sometimes again and again on the same Sabbath, can we 
otherwise than think with emotions of gratitude to its author 
of that communion of the hearts of the faithful produced by 
the use of these same words for eighteen centuries every day, 
every hour, by the countless myriads that have uttered them ? 
Is it not probable that more true prayer has gone up to hea- 
ven through the medium of these few words than of any or all 
other forms ever used among men 1 

To what has been said as to forms and prayers, I might add 
that as to all the great festivals of the church, such as Christ- 
mas, Easter, Whitsunday, we have not turned into any new 
and untried paths, but in celebrating them are merely walk- 
ing in the old and well-trodden ways of our fathers. And 
who does not love them the more for the traces of our fa- 
thers' steps seen therein ? And if any would wish to see other 
striking resemblances between things in our own and the pri- 
mitive churches, let him only take up the various collections 
of canons which are yet extant, and he will be surprised and 
pleased to see how clearly we have copied after them in many 
of our own. Our church has wisely and reverently learnt 
many an useful lesson from the experience of primitive times. 
In the relative duties, rights and privileges of the clergy and 
laity, in the distinctions between the different orders in the 
ministry, in the deportment of bishops and dioceses one to- 
wards another, in the union of priests with the bishop in laying 
on of hands upon the candidates for the priest's office, and the 
number of bishops required for the consecration of a brother 
to the Episcopal office ; in these and many such like things 
we have simply and strictly followed the example of the pri- 
mitive churches. 

In only one other respect will I allude to a happy resem- 



17 

blance. Our bishops, like those of primitive times, are, thank 
God, preachers of the gospel, examples in this as in all other 
things to other ministers. Nay, they must of necessity be 
more abundant in labours than all others if strength be given. 
Circumstances beyond our control have indeed diffused our la- 
bours over large tracts of country in search of the few 
shepherds with their small flocks scattered over the 
same ; but as these circumstances shall change, and by the 
blessing of God our churches and ministers multiply, we shall 
gladly I trust in this respect also imitate the primitive church, 
and by timely and judicious divisions of our dioceses bring each 
congregation under the frequent sound of the bishop's voice, 
and let each chief shepherd know his sheep and be known of 
them. Now and then may each bishop of the church be in 
preaching as Paul was, and as he enjoined it upon Timothy 
and Titus to be. Like the primitive bishops may they be the 
chief preachers, full of sermons and exhortations, thus con- 
firming all the churches and holding up the hands of every 
other preacher. 

One remark permit me now to make, closing all 1 have to 
say on this part of my discourse. Concerning prayers, cere- 
monies, and the language of their creeds and some matters of 
discipline, there was at the first, even for a few centuries, some 
diversity among the churches, the substance of the faith being 
the same in all. But the true nature of Christian liberty was 
too well understood by them, and the spirit of Christian love 
was too strong in their hearts to let this diversity of form or 
language separate them from each other. They agreed thus 
to differ in things not essential to the faith, and lived so as to 
force their enemies to say, " See how these Christians love one 
another." May that same spirit prevail ever among us, as to 
things of minor importance, and as to doctrines too high for us. 

The time came when it was expedient that a number of 
small and independent churches or dioceses should unite toge- 
ther in some common, well-digested liturgies, framed out of the 
many used, and in some common unvarying creeds as the 
Apostles and Nicene. In that respect also the church in 
America resembles the earlier churches. Though in some 
things distinct and independent, yet have we agreed in one 

3 



18 

common Liturgy — the most perfect we think of all — and in 
some common principles and general laws, for the preserva- 
tion of unity and peace. Long may that union subsist, and 
that Liturgy be maintained in its purity and integrity. Ad- 
hering to the wise policy which has hitherto governed all the 
acts of our General Convention, a policy so often and earnest- 
ly urged by the venerable father who is no longer to preside 
over our councils, that is, forbearing to legislate one step be- 
yond the actual needs of the church, may we long exhibit to 
the world the delightful spectacle of a number of Christian so- 
cieties, living together in happy harmony and meeting toge- 
ther to strengthen the bonds of love which have hitherto en- 
circled them. And though it may be impossible for our eccle- 
siastical union to survive that political severance sometimes so 
fearfully threatened, yet who shall say, but that our happy 
meetings here from all parts of our land, and our union at all 
times in so many things which bind hearts together before the 
throne of heaven, may not under God postpone that day of 
political disunion, and the church, instead of being sustained 
and kept together by the state, be the means of supporting for 
a while her sinking pillars, her tottering walls 1 

II. In the second place, having, as was proposed, rejoiced to 
find ourselves walking in some of the good old paths of the Lord 
and his people, it would be well to inquire whether we are 
walking before the Lord in all things zealously as did our fa- 
thers. Whether we speak of the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apos- 
tles or the Fathers, they were truly and emphatically men of 
faith. Living at, or near unto, the time when either by an- 
gels, or in the person of Christ, God visited the earth and spake 
unto men, accompanying his word by wonderful signs, these 
men lived as " nothing doubting," as though God had just left 
off from speaking unto them; there was no wavering — no 
halting between two opinions with them — no compromising 
with the world — no fearing of man. With a holy zeal and 
boldness they went forth to their duty, counting not life itself 
dear unto them, so they might secure the favour of heaven. 
Taking up their cross daily and following him, the first dis- 
ciples of Christ boldly said, " Who can separate us from his 
love V No peril, no tribulation, famine or sword moved them 



19 

from their integrity. They were ready at any moment to 
die for Christ. How bold were they to rebuke vice in every 
shape; yea, even to reprove kings at God's command ! Whe- 
ther it were Daniel in the court of Darius — Nathan in that of 
David — or Paul in the palace of the Caesars — the Spirit of 
God spake boldly out by the mouths of these holy men. How 
Felix trembled before Paul the prisoner, when he reasoned 
on righteousness, temperance and judgment to come ! How 
boldly did the same declare as to all the vices of men, secret 
or open, the gross or the pleasant ones — the revellings, the 
banquetings of the sons and daughters of pleasure, " That they 
who do such things shall never enter into the kingdom of hea- 
ven." The canons, and the discipline of the first ages, show 
clearly to us what was the religion of those days, how sepa- 
rate from sinners, how unspotted from the world, both priests 
and people were required to be.* The rich were charged 
faithfully to abound in good works and be glad to distribute, 
and they set an example before the world never seen before. 
The young were trained in paths of holiness in such a way 
as they never had been before, nor ever since. God's ancient 
people, the Jews, had done much in this way. Line upon 
line, precept upon precept, had they given to their children 
out of God's law, writing its precepts upon their gates, their 

* The following canons show the sense of the primitive church as to cer- 
tain evil places and practices. 

Let the bishop, priest, or deacon who spends his time in dice or drinking 
either desist or be deposed ; the sub-deacon, reader, singer, or layman be de- 
posed. — 35th of the apostolical canons so called. 

In the Laodicean canons, 53, 54, 55, we find the following : — That they of 
the priesthood and clergy ought not to gaze at fine shows, at weddings, or other 
feasts, but before the musicians enter, to rise up and retreat. That they of the 
priesthood and clergy, or even laity, ought not to club together for great eating 
and drinking bouts. That Christians ought not to use wanton dancings at 
their marriages; but to have a modest dinner and supper. 

Also in the African code in the 15th canon it is written, " Let not the sons 
of clergymen manage public shows, nor even be spectators of them : and it 
has always been enjoined on all Christians, that they go not where blasphemy 
is used. 

In Bingham's Antiquities, as abridged by Henry, we find, page 239, the fol- 
lowing statement of the sentiments and practice of the primitive church. 

" Besides acts of impurity the church was strict in regard to all things that 
tended to it — as the writing or reading of lewd books, frequenting theatres or 
spectacles against modesty, promiscuous and wanton dancing, songs, riotous 
and intemperate feasting, etc. All these things were punished with excom- 
munication and penance, and in the case of clergymen with degradation." 



20 

windows, their doors, their garments, their foreheads, and 
their hands. Much has been done in these latter days in our 
blessed Sunday schools for the younger children. But what 
all this compared to the constant, daily, systematic, thorough 
instruction of the Christian youth in the catechetical schools 
of primitive times? What all done by ministers and others 
compared with the careful, prayerful, long-continued instruc- 
tion of candidates for baptism 1 that all our schools and col- 
leges could be baptized as they were with the Holy Ghost ! 
that we were once more in that good old path in which the 
children of the faithful were trained for heaven. Never shall 
we have that great army of preachers without which the 
hosts of hell will not be vanquished, until our schools are con- 
secrated to the Lord and used as nurseries for young soldiers 
of the cross. 

Nor let us fear boldly to follow in that path so trodden by 
the preachers of the first ages of our religion — the path of 
zealous, frequent, faithful preaching of the gospel, that power 
of God to the salvation of the soul. The Saviour and his 
apostles took the lead. The fathers followed after. From 
house to house, in the temple, in the synagogue, in season, out 
of season, they preached the word of God. No matter who 
forbade, preach they would. No invidious comparisons were 
then made between prayers and sermons. Both were of God. 
Roth were necessary. Many were the prayers, many were 
the sermons. The word preached, was yea and amen from 
the lips of many preachers, the one confirming what the other 
said, and the bishops crowning all with the word of exhorta- 
tion and the blessing. The Jewish and Christian Sabbaths 
were both observed, and many were the days of prayer and 
exhortation beside ; nor seemed it righteous overmuch to the 
faithful in that day thus often to meet together. 

As to the preaching of God's word, my brethren, you well 
know how a time came when that almost ceased in the 
church of God, ceremonies and ordinances being nearly all 
that remained to the priest's office. But remember that re- 
ligion, too, was well-nigh extinct at that time, Christianity 
being little more than a name or form. The Reformers were 
preachers, bold and fearless ones, and the Romanists dreaded 



21 

the sound of their voice even more than the thunder of the 
Vatican, for as a trumpet it proclaimed to the world all their 
abominations. for thousands of such preachers as Paul, 
and Barnabas, and Chrysostorn, and Cyprian, and Augustine, 
and Luther, and Calvin, and Melancthon, and Cranmer, and 
Latimer, and Ridley, and Hooper, to preach to this dull and 
lukewarm age, the glorious doctrines of a crucified Redeemer, 
to wake it up from that deathlike slumber which has come 
over it. * 

Let me point you to another old and hallowed path, wor- 
thy to be trodden by far more than now seem willing to fol- 
low the footsteps of the Patriarchs, and Apostles, and Fathers. 
I mean the path that turns to the Gentiles. for more of 
that spirit which Christ breathed into the apostles when he 
commanded them to go into all the world, preaching the gos- 
pel and baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy 
Ghost. What must have been the zeal of those whose sound 
was so soon heard in all the world, their w 7 ords reaching unto 
the ends of the earth? What necessity — what wo was upon 

* It was frequently the case that two or three sermons were preached in 
succession at the same assembly, first by the presbyters and then by the bishop, 
who, when present, usually closed this part of the service. Thus the apostoli- 
cal constitutions say, " When the Gospel is read, let the presbyters one by one, 
but not all, speak the word of exhortation to the people, and last of all, the 
bishop, who is the governor or pilot of the ship." The same thing appears 
from Chrysostom's sermons, preached when a presbyter at Antioch, in which 
he alludes to the bishop as intending to preach after him in some such form as 
this, " It is now time for me to keep silence, that our master may have time to 
speak." "When two or more bishops happened to be together it was usual for 
several of them to preach in immediate succession, reserving the last place to 
the most venerable person. In some places they had a sermon every day, es- 
pecially in Lent and during the festival days of Easter, and many passages of 
ancient authors speak of sermons twice a day upon special occasions. Before 
beginning the sermon it was usual in many places to say, " Peace be with 
you," or " The Lord be with you." To which the people answered, " And 
with thy spirit." This has been incorporated into our service. Sometimes 
at the beginning and at others in the midst of their sermons, they would ad- 
dress short invocations, as that whichAmbrose is said to have used: "I be- 
seech thee, O Lord, and earnestly entreat thee, give me an humble knowledge 
which may edify ; put into my mouth the word of consolation, and edification, 
and exhortation. Let the words which thou givest thy servant be as the 
sharpest darts and burning arrows which may penetrate and inflame the minds 
of my hearers to thy fear and love." Their sermons were extemporaneous and 
sometimes pre-composed, and varied as to length from ten minutes to an hour. 
When more than one preached, they must have delivered the shorter exhorta- 
tions or sermons. — See Henry's Abridgment of Bingham. 



22 

them, unless they preached the gospel every where. The 
field was the world. And, remember, the whole world was 
then heathen, except those who were worse than the heathen, 
having crucified the Lord of glory and who every where 
stirred up the less hostile Gentiles against the disciples of 
Christ. Ail the first preachers of the gospel were as our 
foreign missionaries, only in far greater force. To own, to 
name Christ, was danger ; to preach him, death. how 
many madmen were there in those days; the world being 
judge ; nay, such Christians as many of our day being 
judges. What a missionary was Paul ! Scarce recovered 
from the overpowering vision which struck him to the earth, 
and without conferring with flesh and blood, he went on a 
three years' mission into Arabia. Then for fourteen years 
what a wanderer ! Look at the map of his journeyings by 
sea and by land, from city to city- — from isle to isle — from 
continent to continent. Where shall we find him ! Now at 
Jerusalem ; now at Antioch ; now at Athens ; now at Corinth ; 
now at Rome ; now in Spain ; now, perhaps, in the land of 
our fathers, on the shores of Britannia. Wherever the Ro- 
man eagle flapped its wing — wherever the Roman banner 
waved — there was Paul, preaching the unsearchable riches 
of Christ to the Gentiles. A debtor he was, indeed, both to 
the Jews and Gentiles — the desire and prayer of his heart to 
God was that Israel might be saved. He could wish himself 
to be accursed from Christ for his brethren's sake. He was 
ready to die for them. He reasoned with them and persuaded 
them out of the scriptures in all their synagogues ; but when 
they judged themselves unworthy of eternal life and put the 
gospel away from them, then said he, " Lo ! we turn to the 
Gentiles." Neither did the other disciples wait in Jerusalem 
until it was a city of saints — neither tarried in Judea until it 
was as one rich garden of the Lord ; but having preached 
first to the lost sheep of Israel, then, for the most part, scat- 
tered themselves far and wide, proclaiming to the then known 
world the glorious tidings of salvation through a crucified Re- 
deemer. How could they do otherwise, believing, knowing 
what they did, concerning the heathen world, and having any 
bowels of compassion in them ? What an account does St. 



23 

Paul, and all other missionaries since the days of Paul, give 
of the moral condition of the heathen ! I shall not shock your 
ears or cover your faces with a blush by the recital of what 
you may read in his letter to the then lords of the earth — the 
proud Romans. Make what allowance we dare for the strong 
language of the impassioned Paul, still must we say, awful the 
condition of those who, dead in trespasses and sins, lived with- 
out hope and without God in the world, given up to the vilest 
affections, and with hearts so darkened as to worship the very 
stocks and stones of earth instead of the great Creator of the 
universe. 0, brethren, what has become of the zeal and 
compassion which begun the conversion of the world 1 The 
spirit of missionaries and martyrs was then in every bosom'. 
Whether they remained at home or went abroad, the heathen 
were all around them, and racks, and stakes, and scaffolds 
ever ready. But they courted death and longed for martyr- 
dom, and thousands found the death they sought, and the 
martyrdom for which they longed. But we have none to 
spare — not a minister, say some, can be taken from this 
Christian land for the millions who are living and dying in 
pagan darkness. Not a life can now be periled in such a 
cause. Not a son or daughter can we devote to this service. 
Can this be uttered by any having the least connexion with a 
church which so boldly professes to walk in the old paths ? 

Old Abraham, at the command of God, could bind his son, 
his only son, and raise aloft his hand to strike the sacrificing 
knife to the heart of the child for whom he would have re- 
joiced to die. Old Abraham could leave his kindred and 
home, and ages beforehand go, "not knowing whither he 
went," to take possession, in the name of the Lord, of the pro- 
mised land. Moses could reject his royal hopes and refuse 
the riches of Egypt and lead forth the people of God through 
a dreary wilderness to the land of promise, though only per- 
mitted to view it from the top of the mount. But we, what 
trials will we endure, what sacrifices make in a cause still 
dearest to heaven of all causes? O, how lukewarm, how 
cowardly, how soon cast down and ready to despair, if nations 
are not born in a day under the feeble sound of one or two 
poor missionaries' voice. What if the valiant reformers had been 



24 

such as we ? They did not rush, I know, into the midst of* the 
swarming millions of China, nor throw themselves upon the lost 
fields of Asia Minor and Africa ; hut then remember, that all 
Europe was again one great missionary field, where they had, 
at the peril of life, to contend in deadly strife for the faith 
once delivered to the saints. Again must the blood of the 
martyrs be the seed of the church, and the faithful fight 
against the very gates of hell. The contest was for the very 
existence of our holy religion in its purity and power. O think 
you if such men as Luther and Calvin, Cranmer and Latimer, 
Ridley and Hooper, were now amongst us, that they would hang 
back in heartless indifference and almost revile the generous 
movements which some would make in behalf of perishing 
millions ? Brethren, if cold caution, hesitating doubt, penu- 
rious calculation, and slow movement in such a cause as this, 
be among the old paths of the Lord in which his church has 
walked in the times of her zeal and glory, then have I misunder- 
stood my text, and let all that has been said pass for nought. 

III. Having detained you already to an unusual, perhaps 
unreasonable length, can I dare ask that you will allow me 
to add to these congratulations and exhortations a very few 
words of caution and warning 1 

Too thankful we cannot be that God hath blessed us with 
the continuance of the primitive, apostolical form of govern- 
ment, and with the choicest prayers, and hymns, and creeds 
from the purest churches. They are a most inestimable bless- 
ing, admirably calculated to preserve the faith in its purity, 
the church in its unity, and for nourishing the very spirit of 
piety in the heart. Without such government and such es- 
tablished worship it would really seem impracticable to* pre- 
vent divisions and heresies most injurious to the cause of reli- 
gion. No talents, no learning, no zeal, no piety, seem to be 
sufficient to avert these evils without other aid. At all events 
it is conceded, even by many who walk not with us, that our 
polity and ritual do present very powerful barriers against 
the inroads of heresy and schism. But let us beware of the 
error of placing an undue reliance upon them. Mighty they 
may be, and under God certainly are, and yet of themselves 



25 

insufficient to avert any such evil from his church. By trust- 
ing too much to them we are tempted to neglect other things 
indispensably necessary. We may cry " the temple of the 
Lord, the temple of the Lord are we," while the Lord of the 
temple is not in us. The history of the church of God affords 
but too many a proof of this. There was a divine govern- 
ment in Israel ; there was a temple worship at Jerusalem ; 
there were prayers and services in the synagogues, in which 
the Saviour and the apostles did not hesitate to unite. Many 
of those prayers have come down to us to the present day, 
and some may perhaps have been mingled with the earlier 
liturgies, being only so changed as to suit the Christian dis- 
pensation. And yet the Saviour denounced the worshippers 
as corrupt and abominable, charged them with the hypocrisy 
of crying Lord, Lord, but not doing the will of God, drawing 
nigh to him with their lips, while their hearts were far from 
him ; and let it also be remembered that heresies and divi- 
sions sprung up in the bosom of those churches which were 
built uporr the foundation of the apostles and, prophets, having 
creeds of the purest theology, and liturgies of most seraphic 
piety. In the use of those creeds and liturgies, and under that 
apostolic form of government, the spirit of religion neverthe- 
less disappeared, while the form of godliness was retained long 
after the power of it ceased to be felt. While then a scriptu- 
ral government and holy worship should be most carefully pre- 
served, we must not imagine that they will avail for the pro- 
motion of true piety unless other things equally enjoined in 
the word of God be cultivated with a zeal becoming their im- 
portance.* The spirit of prayer must be nourished in all 

* In proof of the assertion that the form of godliness may be retained long 
after the spirit is lost, let any one read the history of the council of Constance, 
so celebrated for its persecution of Huss and Jerome. Milner gives us the 
following reflections upon it. " Those who look only upon the external forms 
of religion might be tempted to think that the council of Constance was in 
general influenced by the Spirit of God. In all their public sessions they sang 
an anthem, and then prayed, kneeling. After having remained for some time 
in this posture, a deacon called out to them to rise ; and then the President 
addressed himself to the Holy Ghost in a loud voice, in a collect, which, in 
very solemn and explicit terms, supplicated his effectual influence, that not- 
withstanding the enormity of their sins, which filled them with dread, he 
would deign to descend into their hearts, to direct them, to dictate their de- 
crees and to execute them himself, and also to preserve their minds from cor- 

4 



26 

hearts. The word of God must be diligently studied by all 
ranks and ages. Zeal and holiness must be urged upon all 
with the utmost importunity. The greatest care should be 
taken in the admfssion to holy orders. As it will ever be like 
priest, like people, let the bishops of the church take good heed 
on whom they lay ordaining hands, that they be men of God, 
moved to the work by the Holy Ghost, and then thoroughly 
furnished unto every good work. Let our theological semi- 
naries be most anxiously watched and guarded, so that they 
send forth not merely shining, but much more burning lights 
into the world. Let the ministers of God add to prayers, and 
lessons, and ordinances, faithful and impassioned preaching, 
lifting up their voices like trumpets, and declaring to a lost 
world salvation only through a crucified Lord. Let them, as 
solemnly bound by their vows, exercise godly discipline, and 
guard well the altar. Let them not fill the churches with 
worldly professors who have scarce a name to live even among 
men, and before God are dead. Let them above all, watch 
over the rising generation, seeking to instruct their minds with 
the true knowledge of God's word, and to imbue their hearts 
with its very spirit, thus preparing them for a deliberate, en- 
lightened and hearty reception of the rite of confirmation. 
Let the bishops lay their hands suddenly on no one, even in 
the rite of confirmation, for that also is a solemn ordination, 
and the ministers should take good heed how they present 
candidates for the same unto the bishop. Let that door of 
entrance be well guarded and the church is safe. Let it be 
thrown open, or hang loosely on its hinges, so that any may 
open and enter, and the church is dishonoured and becomes a 
by-word and a proverb among men. Let these and all other 
means for promoting zealous piety among ministers and peo- 
ple, be faithfully used, or vain will be our apostolic govern- 
ment, and venerable forms, and holy hymns, and doxologies, 

rupt passions, and not suffer them, through ignorance or selfishness, to swerve 
from justice and truth. The ideas and perhaps words were, however, taken 
from better times, when the operations of the Holy Ghost were not only pro- 
fessed but felt in Christian assemblies. The forms of true religion, often re- 
main a long time, after the spirit of it has been almost extinguished. Both 
the emperor Sygismond and his consort Barba, who were infamous for lewd- 
ness, attended the religious ceremonies of this council. Sygismond, in a dea- 
con's habit, read the gospel, while the Pope celebrated mass." 



27 

coming down from primitive times. Our ministers, though 
they cannot preach heresy and schism, may, as too many have 
done, sink Christian doctrine into a mere meager morality on 
which the souls of the people famish ; and the people them- 
selves, though holding fast the form of sound words, and 
joining in such prayers as angels might use, nevertheless be 
what too many in our own and mother church have been, a 
reproach to that church, and to Him who purchased it with 
his own precious blood.* 

* The church required in the clergy an exemplary purity and gravity beyond 
that of other men. They were to draw the picture of all manner of virtues in 
their own lives, and set themselves as examples to the people. The priest's 
office is a more difficult province than that of leading an army or governing a 
kingdom, and requires an angelic virtue. His soul ought to be purer than the 
sun, that the Holy Spirit may never leave him desolate, but that he may always 
be able to say, " I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." — Chrysostom on the 
Priesthood. 

The clergy were required to exercise the most exemplary hospitality to the 
poor and strangers, and in order to this, to observe great frugality and 
simplicity in regard to their own personal expenses. They were not to 
affect state, have rich furniture, nor give sumptuous entertainments. They 
were required to be patterns of meekness, humility and gravity ; and the 
rules and canons of the church were very strict against all unbecoming 
levity of deportment, all scurrility, buffoonery and indecency of discourse. 

The exemplary conduct of the Christian ministers, in the time of Julian 
the apostate, was such as to force him to propose them as examples to the 
heathen clergy, when he attempted to re-establish paganism. 

" Priests, he said, should so live as to be copies of what they preached by 
their own lives, and dissolute ones should be expelled from their offices. Not 
only wicked actions but obscene and indecent language, should be avoided by 
them. No idle books and wanton plays, but divine philosophy, should be 
studied by them. They should learn sacred hymns by heart, should pray 
thrice or at least twice every day ; and when in their turn called on to attend 
the temple, they should never depart from it, but give up themselves to their 
office. At other times they should never frequent the forum, nor approach 
the houses of the great, unless with a view of procuring relief for the indigent, 
or to discharge some part of their office ; that in no case should they frequent 
the theatres, nor even be seen in the company of a charioteer, player or dancer. 
In every city the most pious and virtuous should be ordained, without regard 
to their circumstances. The godly training of their own families, and their 
compassionate care for the indigent, should be their best recommendation. 
The impious Galileans, he observed, by their singular benevolence, had strength- 
ened their party, and heathenism had suffered by want of attention to these 
things." Such was the fire the apostate stole from heaven, and such his 
artifice in managing it ! These rules he must have derived from the Holy 
Scriptures, for they are not to be found in any of the heathen writers which 
he studied and admired. They are rules which well deserve the attention of 
Christian pastors in every age. In imitation of Christians he established 
schools for the education of youth. He appointed lectures on religion, stated 
times for prayers, monasteries for devout persons, hospitals and alms-houses 
for the poor and diseased and for strangers. These things he especially re- 
commended in a letter to Arsacius, the chief priest of Galatia, in which he 



28 

In order to form a due estimate of our character and con- 
dition, our trials and duties at the present day, it would be 
well sometimes to look back to our past history in our own 
and mother country. Long and severe were the contests of 
our fathers with those who had corrupted religion in their 
land. Often was the victory gained and often lost, and some- 
times it hung in long and painful suspense. The connexion 
which had long subsisted between the church and civil go- 
vernment made the battles more deadly and the issues more 
uncertain. Truth at length prevailed, but not without some 
admixture of error, the result of long established habits, and of 
circumstances not easy to be controlled. Some there were 
who became impatient of remaining evils, and too strongly 
demanded immediate and total reform, proposing at the same 
time changes which would indeed have marred the fair face 
of our Zion. The puritans, by insisting too strenuously on 
some things, drove their opponents into the opposite errors, and 
what with its connexion with government, the character of 
many of its clergy,* and the wealth and fashion of the nobility 
who mostly adhered to it, the church was justly liable to the 
charge of having at her communion very many of the worldly 
and fashionable whose lives illy consisted with the solemn 
vows uttered at the table of the Lord. In establishing the 

tells him, it was that advanced the impious religion of the Christians ; that it 
was their kindness to strangers, their care in burying the dead, and their 
affected gravity. He bids him warn the heathen priests to avoid play-houses 
and taverns and sordid employments. Hospitals should be erected in every 
city for the reception of all sorts of indigent persons. The Galileans, he said, 
relieve both their poor and ours." 

* When I think of what was the character of very many of the Episcopal 
clergy in England formerly, and what still is the character of not a few at this 
day, and of a large number of those sent over to raise up the church in America, 
a character resulting a great measure, from the peculiar circumstances of her 
history, and think upon the great change which has taken place in England, 
and the still greater in our own land, I am reminded of the following passage 
in Bishop Burnet's history of his own times. 

" I shall conclude all that I have to say in this place of the affairs of Rome, 
with a lively saying of queen Christina, to myself at Rome. She said it was 
certain the church was governed by the immediate care and providence of 
God ; for none of the four popes that she had known, since she came to Rome, 
had common sense." As God works by certain instruments in effecting all 
his glorious reformations, so I cannot but think that the effective instruments, 
in this reformation, are our admirable Liturgy and offices, and the well or- 
dered government with which we are blessed. 



29 

church in our own country, we are found in circumstances 
subjecting us to some of the same temptations and the same 
reproaches. In the providence of God, in very many of our 
churches is to be found a large proportion of the wealthy, the 
educated, the honourable of the land, who, as in all other 
countries and ages, are liable to their peculiar temptations. 
Those temptations, instead of being adduced as excuses for their 
faults, or pleas for ministerial negligence, should only furnish 
stronger motives for ministerial fidelity and zeal. It is ours 
especially to charge the rich of this world that they be not 
high minded — that they be glad to distribute of their store — 
to warn the lovers of pleasure that they are dead even while 
they live — to say to all, if any love the world the love of the 
Father is not in them. This is our most bounden duty, and 
to shrink from it is cowardice and sin. This is one of the old 
paths in which God would have us to walk. The sentiments 
of the primitive church as to all those amusements, those re- 
velings and banquetings for which even some professing Chris- 
tians plead, are well known by the canons which are still ex- 
tant, and the discipline which was exerted. Our general 
conventions and some of our state conventions, have delivered 
their sentiments in unequivocal terms concerning them — nor 
delivered them in vain. Just sentiments and consistent prac- 
tice on these subjects prevail more and more throughout all 
our borders. Few comparatively are those who will so far 
oppose public sentiment, so mortify the ministers of God, so 
grieve the best friends of religion and the church, so give oc- 
casion to its enemies to triumph, as to frequent and encourage 
places or scenes of ungodly mirth. Those few, even if not so 
far transgressing the letter of the law as to subject themselves 
to the discipline of the church, will yet, for violating its spirit, 
only render themselves the more objects of remark and con- 
demnation. But to them would we say, lifting up our voice, 
if it were possible, so as to be heard through all the borders of 
our Zion, where is your love for religion, for the church of 
God, for our special branch of it, that you will consent still to 
keep up this old reproach, that by your example you will 
drive the humble and pious inquirer to some other fold, yea, 



30 

that you are so acting that some of your own children, per- 
haps, if ever the grace of God shall take possession of their 
hearts, may renounce the church of their parents and blame you 
for the deed ? I will only add, that of all the churches in the 
land ours is that one whose members and ministers ought to 
be most particular and faithful as to these things of which I 
speak. 

In relation to our Christian friends of other communions, 
who, I w r ell know, often charge us with far more of worldli- 
ness than is justly due, may God give us grace to cherish and 
exhibit the loving and charitable spirit of our divine Master. 
They exist in great numbers and respectability throughout 
our land. The image of Christ is upon thousands and tens of 
thousands whom we hope to see and love in heaven. The 
zeal, and piety, and talents, and learning of many of them God 
is pleased to make much use of for his own gracious purposes 
in our own and other lands. We differ from them in points 
which seem to us important, and think that much of the un- 
happy discord which destroys their peace results from de- 
fects in those things wherein we differ. Let us not severely 
upbraid or boastingly triumph, but rather sympathize with 
them and pray that God may direct all to his glory. Let us 
candidly acknowledge and truly love all that is good in 
them, calling nothing common or unclean which God hath 
cleansed. In so doing we shall walk in the old paths of our 
fathers, whose mild and tolerant spirit ever shrunk from the 
bitterness of invective and the cruelty of persecution. I speak 
of those who have left to us, in our articles and liturgy, an im- 
press of their own minds and hearts. The secular arm may 
have been sometimes raised in anger, may have bathed its un- 
hallowed sword in blood, and even some of the ministers of God 
may have lifted up their voices to call down fire from heaven, 
but we look in vain through the articles, offices and prayers 
of the church for one unkind word. While firmly maintaining 
our own distinctive principles, and walking by our own rules, 
let us exhibit the same spirit of kindness to those who differ 
from us; and, among other results, the disposition already so 
strongly manifested on the part of numbers not trained in our 
communion, will increase more and more, and thousands now 



31 

tossed about by every wind of doctrine and driven to and fro 
on the waves of the tempestuous sea of controversy, will gladly 
seek an asylum in our own more peaceful bosom. 

I have now only to add, that in all our expectations and 
hopes, and efforts for our beloved church, we shall be greatly 
encouraged by casting a filial eye towards the church of our 
fathers. Ever eventful and deeply interesting has been her 
history. In the midst of foes, various, numerous and violent, 
who have ever sought and prophesied her downfall, she yet sur- 
vives, yet lives on the soil which was enriched by the blood of 
her martyrs, where she has long stood, the mightiest bulwark of 
the reformation, the right arm of the Lord, which he stretched 
forth in defence of his persecuted truth. Never were her 
foes more numerous, or more violent, or the weapons of their 
warfare more deadly, than at the present time. But never 
were her friends more true and more united, and never did the 
Lord appear more clearly on her side to fight her battles. Not 
with armies and fleets, not with treasures of silver and gold, 
not with edicts of kings and parliaments does he come forth 
to her rescue, but he comes in the spirit of holiness, putting 
new life and zeal into all orders of her ministers and ranks of 
her friends ; he comes in that noble spirit of liberality which 
pours its annual millions of voluntary contributions into the 
hands of those devoted ones who are building churches at 
home and sending missionaries abroad, and are resolved 
to leave nothing undone which shall make the church of our 
forefathers a praise to him on the earth.* She exhibits to 

* The following account of the origin of some of those excellent societies, 
which have so blessed England and the world, is from Bishop Burnet's histo- 
ry of his own times, which, as well as other works of this eminent prelate, 
are worthy of frequent perusal, and are especially recommended to our young 
candidates for the ministry. 

" In King James' reign, the fear of popery was so strong, as well as just, 
that many, as well in and about London, began to meet often together, both 
for devotion and for their further instruction. Things of that kind had been 
formerly practised only among the puritans and dissenters, but these were of 
the church, and came to their ministers to be assisted with forms of prayer 
and other directions. They were chiefly conducted by Dr. Beveridge and Dr. 
Horneck. Some disliked this, and were afraid it might be the original of new 
factions and parties ; but wiser and better men thought it was not fit nor de- 
cent to check a spirit of devotion at such a time. It might have given scandal, 
and it seemed a discouraging of piety, and might be a mean to drive well 
meaning persons over to the dissenters. After the Revolution, their societies 



32 

the world the uncommon spectacle of a church without revo- 
lution, renewing herself unto greater zeal and holiness, ra- 
pidly improving in the character of her clergy, and bidding 
fair to command the increasing veneration of the good and 
pious of every name. Her enemies may assail her outworks, 
may prostrate some of them to the ground, may seize upon 
her treasures with sacrilegious hands, may rob the Lord of 
his revenues, but the citadel is safe; for the Spirit of the Lord 
is there. Let us seek to follow her noble example, by a faith- 
ful adherence to the spirit of our articles and services, avoid- 
ing whatever deserves to be lamented in her, the result of hu- 
man infirmity and of those peculiar disadvantages under which 
she has ever laboured. 

Our career, brethren and friends, has but just begun. 
Thus far God has blessed us. Our outward prosperity is cer- 
tainly not small. Heaven grant that it be not too great for 
us. Let us not be highminded but fear, remembering that 



grew more numerous, and for a greater encouragement to devotion, they got 
such collections to be made, as to maintain many clergymen to read prayers in 
so many places, and at so many different hours, that devout persons might have 
that comfort at every hour of the day. There were constant sacraments every 
Lord's day in many churches : there were both great numbers and greater ap- 
pearances of devotion at prayers and sacraments, than had been observed in 
the memory of man. These societies resolved to inform the magistrates of 
swearers, drunkards, profaners of the Lord's day, and of lewd houses ; and 
they threw in the part of the fine given by law to the informers, into a stock 
of charity. From this they were called societies of reformation. Some good 
magistrates encouraged them, but others treated them roughly. As soon as 
Queen Mary heard of this, she did by her letters and proclamations encourage 
their good designs, which were afterwards prosecuted by the late king. Other 
societies set themselves to some charity schools for teaching poor children, for 
clothing them and binding them out to trades. Many books were printed and 
sent over the nation by them to be freely distributed. These were called so- 
cieties for propagating Christian knowledge. By this means some thousands 
of children are now well educated and carefully looked after. In many places 
of the nation the clergy met often together to confer about matters of religion 
and learning, and they got libraries to be raised for their common use. At last 
a corporation was created by the late king, for propagating the gospel among 
infidels, for settling schools in our plantations, for furnishing the clergy that 
were sent there, and sending missionaries among such of our plantations as 
were not able to provide pastors for themselves. It was a glorious conclusion 
of a reign that was begun with preserving our religion, thus to create a cor- 
poration propagating it to the remotest parts of the earth and among infidels. 
There were very liberal subscriptions made to it by many of the bishops and 
clergy, who set about it with great care and zeal. Upon the queen's accession 
to the crown, they had all possible assurances of her favour and protection, of 
which, upon every application, they received very eminent marks." 



33 

our numerical increase in ministers and churches is not an in- 
fallible measure of our spiritual advancement. Let us, then, 
rejoice with trembling, or the intoxication of success may be 
at once the mean and omen of our fall, and our fall be the 
more disastrous by reason of our present elevation. Let us 
follow peace with all men, imitating the example of that 
venerable patriarch of our Zion, who lived and died in this 
city of brotherly love, to whose peace he so greatly contri- 
buted, by whose citizens he was so highly honoured, so sin- 
cerely beloved, whose death created a general pause along 
all its streets, and whose funeral procession was one long un- 
broken line from the door of his house to the mouth of his se- 
pulchre. May his mantle descend not on one of us, but on 
all. Imbibing his truly catholic spirit, adhering to his judi- 
cious, moderate, and true interpretation of our standards, 
avoiding all metaphysical discussions and doubtful disputations, 
we shall agree on all subjects where agreement is necessary, 
and readily consent to differ, where difference is unimportant.* 

* The following, according to Milner, are the sentiments of Luther on a 
subject which has so often distracted the minds of men and dishonoured, by bit- 
ter controversy, the church of God. Our church in this country has thus far 
escaped and long may it be preserved from the evil. 

" The Saxon reformer, though he denied as we have repeatedly seen, the 
existence of all human ability to save a lost sinner, as also the inefficacy of 
all human qualifications to merit reward ; and though he ascribed salvation 
to grace alone and to the merciful will of God, yet on the delicate question of 
predestination ever displayed that moderation by which his mind was uniformly 
influenced in all doctrinal inquiries, except one, (that of consubstantiation) 
and content with what scripture had revealed, he never undertook to explain 
this difficult subject with any thing like systematic precision ; much less did 
he ever think proper to propose the arduous speculation, concerning the di- 
vine decrees, as necessary articles of a Christian's faith. It happened, how- 
ever, that a neighbouring minister, with a view of comforting one of his flock, 
whose mind was much distressed, respecting the secret counsels of God, was 
desirous of obtaining from Luther more satisfaction on this head than could 
be collected from his writings. This circumstance gave to our reformer 
the occasion of writing an epistle, in which he says : " Many have perished 
in the indulgence of such curious inquiries ; it is a temptation which leads 
even to blasphemy. I myself, by giving way to it, have more than once 
been reduced to the last extremity. We poor mortals by faith can scarcely 
comprehend a few rays of the divine promise, or receive in practice a few 
sparks of the divine precepts ; and yet, feeble and impure as we are, we rashly 
attempt to fathom the majesty of God in all his brightness. Do we not 
know that his ways are past finding out 1 Instead of using well the mild 
Jight of the divine promises, which is adapted to our faculties, we rush, with 
5 



34 

Then shall we extort from every mouth that highest of all 
praises, " Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for 
brethren to dwell together in unity." Then shall our Zion be 
as " a city that is at unity with itself." Then shall " peace be 
within our walls and plenteousness within our palaces," and 
surely, every good man in our land will wish us prosperity. 
Amew. 

eyes of moles, to view at once the majestic splendour of the Deity. What 
wonder then if his glory should overwhelm us in the attempt to investigate it !" 

The author of this sermon was acquainted, while at college, with a young 
licensed minister of very superior talents, who was much given to speculation 
on the divine decrees and those subjects connected with the same. That 
gentleman has since, by the force of his commanding talents and great worth, 
held high stations in the literary world, and still continues to do so. It was 
the lot of the author to meet with him a few years since, when the old sub- 
ject came under consideration, and the able divine, and accomplished scholar, 
and acute reasoner, made the following statement: " After we parted I continued 
passionately devoted to the study of those subjects, and was satisfied that I could 
master them thoroughly, and present to the world a clear exhibition of them. 
I gave myself up to them almost entirely for ten years, still resolving to un- 
derstand them ; but at the end of ten years, I found myself in utter darkness, 
without any fixed opinion or belief on the subject. I then laid them aside 
entirely and now never read or think about them. I have but one answer 
to all who ask my opinion, and that is, ' I know nothing about them.' " 

We are informed that in the sixth century, Christians had drawn the ab- 
strusest niceties into controversy, and had thereby so destroyed peace, love 
and charity, that they lost the whole substance of religion, and in a manner 
drove Christianity quite out of the world, so that the Saracens, taking ad- 
vantage of their differences, found it an easy matter to establish Mahometanism 
upon the ruins of Christianity. From this lamentable fact let Christians 
learn an instructive lesson. 




SERMON 



PREACHED AT THE OPENING 




GENERAL CONVENTION 



OF THE 



tftroteataut mplstopul ©fcurcfc, 



PHILADELPHIA, 



September 5, 1838. 



BY THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM MEADE, D. D. 

ASSISTANT B18HOF OF VIRGINIA. 




PHILADELPHIA: 

Episcopal Recorder Press 

WILLIAM STAVELY, PRINTER. 



1838. 



















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